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Topic: Target Exclusive Clone Trooper (Read 20191 times)

I've decided to pass on this. I bought the VOTC STormies, and those overpriced EE Clone packs, but I had a good reason to buy them. This one, I can just add the dots to one of my Clones I already have.

I also agree that this exclusive **** is getting out of hand. It seems that almost every figure is an exclusive. This just in Hasbro (and all other toy lines, too) - not everything HAS to be exclusive!

Can anyone confirm that the DPCI number from the first page of this thread is accurate: 087-06-1489 - I need that to start digging at my local Targets - they will most likely let it rot in the back until the employees have had plenty of time to dig through the cases.

So tomorrow morning, I'm going to try that DPCI # and see if they have any in stock. This is something to remember at ALL Target stores.

Target has a policy on bringing stuff out - it basically says that (a) they can not search for specific stuff and (b) they can not bring stuff out that is already well stocked.

Here are some ways around it though, and I know this is dirty pool, but Target is really starting to piss me off again...

1) Collect figures on pegs until there are a couple of pegs completely empty of either Collection 1 or 2 figures. If you have a Target with a price scanner that will indicate what's in stock - check before you start doing this, there's no point in freeing up a peg or two of C2 figures if they only have more C1 in stock.

After you've freed up some pegs, find the nearest assistance phone and press one - this will make a "Target Team Member" come running. When they get there, take them to where you have just made empty pegs and ask them to fill the empty pegs. They will do it! If you want to be EXTRA bold, ask them to stock it from the most recent location - each location has a date attached to it referring to when it came into the store - just politely ask them to pull from that location and you might hit pay-dirt.

2) This will only work if your Targets have a price scanner that allows you to punch in numbers. Go to the scanner and start punching in the numbers of stuff that isn't on the shelves. Things like the exclusive clone (087-06-1489) or the Mustafar playset (087-06-1334). If the item shows up as in stock. You can again, call on a customer service phone and then give them the DPCI number and explain to them that NONE of that variety/item is on the shelves. I would say that 9 times out of 10, they will go get it for you.

I used this method to buy the Deluxe figures and the Mid-size vehicles early.

Like I said, I know that it's dirty pool, but I still fail to understand why it is that Target is like they are regarding bringing stuff out. They have categorized Star Wars figures in the same group as Hot Wheels - this is something I find completely ridiculous. All of my Target stores have a "limit number of purchase per person" sign up, but I have yet to see anyone get turned away if they wanted to buy 10 figures.

Out of all of the chains, Target is also the place where I've run into the most unreasonable or jerkish deputy managers who are responsible for the area that includes Toys. When I see things like entire cases of these clones on eBay, I can't help but wonder why these guys seem to guard the product like it's gold that I'm trying to steal. The only reason I can figure is that they have an agreement with some local comic book shop guy who buys stuff from them directly from the back and gives them a kick-back for holding the stuff for them.

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Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

Ok well I got one I called up Target again today. Yesterday's response was we will not be putting them out until May 19th. Today I called got a girl who was nice enough to check the computer for me and said they had 1 case in the back. So i ran over to target and found some guy who looked like he had no idea was going on and gave him the DCPI # 087-061-489. He said they had them went in the back and after about 15 min. cam back with on ein his hand. I said thank you, avoided any managers I saw, and bought the figure. It was 12.99. Very cool indeed!

The thing that chaps my ass the most here is the fact that Hasbro does nothing, NUH-THING, to look out for those who are most loyal to their product when chains like Target insist on screwing us so badly without so much as the common courtesy of lubrication. My God, we throw money hand over fist at these people and this is the thanks we get?

What's more, with a MSRP of $9.99, the Measel Clone was clearly meant for collectors! Are we supposed to look at this as a favor or something??? Why couldn't this just be a simple variation like everything else now days? Damn, they're just dots! And not even seven or eight dollars worth of red dots at that!!! Not sure what I expected though considering they're in it to make money, not friends. Still, what a slap to the face. What a let-down.

It's that last cash-grab before the end. The retailers likely won't support this line post-ROTS (unless the TV show starts sometime in 2006) so they're just screwing people over before not bothering to carry Star Wars anymore.

And Hasbro wants to sell stuff. If Target came to you and asked for an exclusive, and they want to buy X amount of stuff if you give them that exclusive(s), does you think you would say no?

Worse than cattle, we're all just numbers to them. At least with cattle they can sell the meat for various products, get milk from them, etc; with numbers, the only thing that we represent is leverage for corporations to line their own wallets. They operate under the guise of actually caring what their customers think, but in the end scheme of things, their basic philosophy is "if you don't like it, go somewhere else." Except for Wal-Mart, whose philosophy is, "if you don't like it, too bad, because we ran all the other people out of business and you have nowhere else to go."

But I digress.

The thing that gets me is that retail is leading Hasbro to believe that there is a future for SW toys. To retail, Star Wars is only really profitable in a movie year or with something huge attached to the movies (e.g. the DVD box sets) to tie toy sales to. When January 2006 hits and ROTS is just another DVD in the movie section, SW will be back to its now all too familiar four pegs for basic figures at WM, Target, and K-Mart (if they are even still around by then). The majority of the ROTS figures will be hanging in the clearance aisle for 2 bucks a pop, and Hasbro will be citing disappointing sales for everything they did in 2005. They will scale back SW production until a lot of the items they probably have planned for 2006 won't even see production on a large scale, retail will have been burned for the third time in six years by a massive product rollout and won't order enough, and a combined low production with low ordering will equal collecting nightmares.

The SW toy line, in non-movie years, is pretty much seen as the redheaded stepchild of the toy aisle. If you look at any WM during a non-film year, SW has the smallest section of pegs allotted to it of any toy line in the boys' action figure aisle. 90 percent of the time the only thing that I ever saw in the SW section last year (OTC included) were lightsabers in both electronic and basic varieties. Some will say that it's because the OTC sold so well and they flew off the shelves, but even if that is the case, empty pegs are poison for retailers. If there's nothing there, they can't make money, and wouldn't logic dictate that they restock them constantly?

The problem with that is that retail doesn't want to order a lot of SW stuff because while the stuff sells well in the short run, in the long run, it's a disaster. Most collectors will get their 1 or 2 of each figure and that's that. You might get some kids or random adults buying something, but it's a real rarity in this day and age of video games and a lack of imagination. When there isn't a movie to tie into the toys, kids aren't going to be interested, and even then their interest is dubious.

Television show or not (and let me commit heresy by saying a live action television show fills me more with dread than it does anticipation), SW is dying a slow death at retail. Target can charge 13 dollars for an action figure all they want, since they know this is their last chance. It's like the elephant in the room these days, and retail knows it. Once ROTS has run its course, retail will turn its backs, and Hasbro will be caught with their pants down because they'll keep churning out the same old thing, again and again and again, and what retail didn't kill of the line will be put out of its misery by Hasbro.

And once again, we will be blamed because we just didn't buy enough of those Force Battlers to keep the line afloat.

And to keep this even remotely on topic (says the man that just went on a tirade that is even more pessimistic than I usually go on), I looked at Ebay this morning to see how out of control the Clone Trooper auctions were. At around 10 AM there were 70 or so auctions and none of them that had been active for more than a few hours were below 30 dollars for a single figure. And in a lot of cases, the sellers were offering multiple figures, even full cases of the figures.

But the SW line isn't dying, Hasbro has the license until 2018 or something like that. Just pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Now take this for what it is worth everyone. At C3 the Hasbro rep girl told my friend and I that these Clones are to be released on MAY 5TH. She did admit that certain stores are going to mess up and put them out early as is the case with all the other exclusives. She kind of laughed because that's what happens.

The lady was really nice and pleasant but as far as her really knowing that was the date...well... that was what she said. Who knows if she really knew or not? But that is another possibility. Yes, $12.99 but she said it would just be on the pegs. No getting a ticket or any of that other stuff with the Lava Vader.

I hate myself for this, but I want to buy and open at least 3-4 of them.

I know a lot of people seem to love Target and detest Walmart, but I'm pretty much the opposite. Target seems like scalpers with stuff like this.

As far as stock and the ability to help their customers, Target wins hands down. As far as the employees go, your choices are non-existent (WalMart) and a mixed bag (Target).

It seems to me in all of my years of collecting and hitting both of these chains for stuff that WalMart employees are just not even interested in helping a customer - for ANYTHING. Did you know that WalMart has the same inventory control scanning guns that Target does? The only difference is that WalMart employees don't want to help you, period - no matter what you are trying to buy.

With Target at least, they have a good turn-over of product, never seem to over-order on any one assortment and if you're lucky you'll run into an employee who is at least going to TRY to help you.

If you go into Target and basically turn the situation to your favor then Target's own policy dictates that they have to help you. Looking for Collection 2 figures, clear three pegs that have the tag for Collection 2 and then ask for them to fill the pegs. You get around any sign they have posted because you are asking them to replenish shelf-space with product they have in stock.

If you can't free up some pegs then, well, you're out of luck. It's unfortunate, but I can also see Target's point in not wanting to have too much product on the floor to the point where the aisle becomes a mess either. This is also WalMart's biggest problem - the stores usually look like BOMBS have just gone off, where as Target stores are typically tidy and well organized.

I too am a bit disappointed that this SA Clone Paint-op variant is an exclusive. I can see this one being harder to get than the Lava Vader for a couple of reasons:

1) There is no set street date for the item - with Lava Vader it was the morning of April 2nd and you got a ticket. For this figure it's up in the air when it will hit the pegs (if at all in some areas based on eBay auctions).

2) Army builders, army builders, army builders. While I don't mind them as a collector sub-set, I'm guilty of the same thing Chewie is - right now I'm thinking that I want to pick up at least FIVE of these - one to keep MOC and the other four to open to add to my ever growing ROTS clone army. I just hope that 50,000 wasn't the order quantity of these, otherwise, we're screwed.

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Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

Not sure what it is like in other areas. However, the Target here seems to be the only retailer in the area wise enough not to buy 6000 cases of the same figures. Thus, they actually look like they need to restock their shelves. Unless they have just been lazy about doing it?

TRU already has ROTS in a huge bin. Plus the front of the store and the regular section in the back is full of the same initial waves of figures.

Well - I went to the Target store in Brick, NJ armed with the DPCI number.

First I punched it into the price scanner and it told me that they did have the item in stock.

Next I called on the phone and asked for help.

When the person came, at first they weren't going to help - I pointed to the pegs where the Lava Vader is supposed to be and told her that the 12.99 clone trooper is supposed to go there. She started to argue with me because the Target employees had placed regular figures on those same pegs.

After a bit back and forth, she called over a manager who made her punch the Clone Trooper DPCI number into her gun and then told her to go pull a case from that location.

When she finally came back with the case, they were seemingly quiet. One of the employees I was dealing with had once told me that employees are not allowed to open cases in the back -- well the case they brought out HAD been opened AND there were only four clones still in it!

So I said to the manager and the other employee, "Oh gee, look at that, the case has already been pilfered by employees in the back - what a shock!" At this point, they wouldn't even look me in the eye 'cause they knew I was right.

Why does everything involving Target have to feel like going into a court and pleeding your case like a lawyer?

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Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

I went to Target yesterday to look for a Clone Commando, instead I found the Target Exclusive Clone Trooper. He's an SA Clone with a pistol and rifle. He has red marks on his chest, head, and bicep. He's set in a ROTS mold VOTC styled case. Cut and dry.

$10...

Why did I buy it? Cause I'd never heard of this thing before, and it was the only one on shelves. And also because, hell, I paid $12 for the TRU Holographic Yoda earlier yesterday.

Despite the price, I'd actually like to pick up one of these too. If they are indeed $12.99 (as it sounds), one will be enough, I can't army build at that price. I really like the figure, but it sounds like it could be a pain to find/pick up....hopefully I'm wrong. I checked both of our Targets this weekend, and neither had them. Only one of them has a DCPI scanner, but I forgot to go punch in the number since we were in a bit of a hurry. Oh well, doubtful they had it anyways, this particular Target is often a bit slower with the releases. I've seen conflicting reports of the release date, with either May 5 or May 8 being the most common. I'd almost rather it be the 5th in some ways, but we'll have to see. I could see that possibly being the day, because I think the ROTS video game is released that day?

As far as Target vs. Wal-Mart...there are points both ways. I usually prefer Target, although they are often a little higher price-wise. My wife and I just enjoy shopping at Target overall better, so it is a better experience I guess. Wal-mart always ends up frustrating me, especially if you go to pick up groceries. It really is rarely possible to have a "quick trip" to Wal-Mart, regardless of what you are getting. I've also seen the same problems others have mentioned here, Wal-Mart (particularly the toy section) is a warzone. Figures strewn everywhere, floor, shelves, etc. They are overstocked, which makes me worry about seeing later figures. Target is overall much more organized and don't seem to go crazy with the initial releases. They are also good about clearances it seems, which is good too. However, Wal-Mart is a fair amount closer to home, so it is often more convenient to go check out the stock...so that helps some. Also, that particular Wal-mart lowered their prices to $4.98, so that is good too. Target is at $5.24. Toys R Us, on the other hand, rarely gets any business from me. They are always later getting things in, and seem to always be higher priced. They are swimming in the first 24-32 figures, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Last time TRU got much business from me was for the VOTC line, they seemed to be pretty timely with the first two waves of that....and the ROTJ one showed up MUCH later. Anyways...back to topic....I do like the Clonetrooper figure, but the price and availability is going to be a pain. I hope to find just one, that would be enough for me.